At Her Side
by unknownbyhim22
Summary: ONE SHOT! Gabriella recieves bad news and Troy, her best friend, stays at her side even when she doesn't want him there. T


**Hey, everyone! Here's another ONE SHOT! I like this one the best, I think. Hope you enjoy it! **

Gabriella walked down the hallway, happily, as she thought about the great news she heard the night before. Her older sister, Anne, was getting married to her boyfriend of five years and Gabriella was going to be her maid of honor. She smiled at her friends as she passed them, but couldn't help but notice the expression they all had on their faces. They looked like they had something to say but they were too scared to say it out loud. Gabriella furrowed her brow, but ignored the looks and made her way to homeroom with Ms. Darbus. She inhaled the scent of freshly sharpened pencils and eraser tops as she made her way to her desk and she smiled as Sharpay walked over to her.

"I am so sorry." She said as she put her hand to her heart.

"What? Why are you sorry?" Gabriella asked with a small laugh, thinking that she was just having another dramatic Sharpay moment.

Sharpay dropped her hand to her side and a panicked look appeared on her face.

"I heard about your sister." Sharpay said slowly.

"I know! Isn't it awesome?" Gabriella asked.

"Awesome?" Sharpay asked in shock.

"Yeah! She's getting married!" Gabriella said quickly.

Sharpay gasped, but it wasn't the usual quick, Sharpay gasp, it was serious and for real. Gabriella frowned quickly and looked into her friend's eyes.

"What?" Gabriella asked.

"I'm really sorry. I thought you knew." Sharpay said quietly.

"Knew what?" Gabriella asked.

"About your sister."

"What's there to know? She's coming home today because she's getting married." Gabriella said quickly as she started to panic.

Sharpay suddenly got teary eyed, knowing that she had to tell her friend what she already knew herself.

"She got in a car accident on her way home." Sharpay explained.

"No." Gabriella said as she shook her head slowly.

"She's gone." Sharpay said quietly.

Troy ran through the hallway of East High and stopped when he got to Ms. Darbus's room. He looked into the room and his heart dropped when he saw his best friend, Gabriella Montez, standing by Sharpay. He was too late and felt terrible knowing that Gabriella had to find out this way. He was about to go over to her when she grabbed her backpack and ran out of the room, making everyone turn their head as she ran past them. They all knew. Everyone knew except for her and they stepped aside as she ran down the hallway with Troy close behind her.

"Gabriella, wait!" Troy called after her as she continued to run away from the school. "Gabriella, stop, please!"

Gabriella stopped when he called after her and breathed heavily as she looked at the ground.

"I just need to go home, Troy. I need to talk to my mom. I'm fine, please, just let me go." She said quietly, avoiding eye contact with him.

"I can walk you home if you want me to." Troy said quietly as he put his hand on her arm.

"No." Gabriella said as she started to walk away.

Troy watched Gabriella walk down the sidewalk until he couldn't see her anymore and as he turned around Chad, Jason, and Zeke were standing by the doors, waiting for him with sad looks on their face.

"Are you alright, man?" Chad asked, patting his friend on the back.

"I'm okay; I just don't think Gabriella is." Troy admitted as he looked at his friends.

"Ms. Darbus said you can leave with Gabriella if you want to. She knows about her sister." Zeke said. "She needs her best friend right now."

"Okay, thanks guys. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Troy said as he started to back up.

"If you need anything, we're here." Jason replied.

Troy nodded and ran toward his car and drove to Gabriella's house quickly as thoughts ran through his head. He ran up to the Montez's front door and opened it without knocking or ringing the door bell. He shut the door behind him and could hear Ms. Montez talking.

"Please, Gabriella, open the door!" She said in a worried voice.

Troy ran up the stairs and quickly made his way toward Gabriella's room, stopping when he saw Ms. Montez standing by Gabriella's door, tears streaming down her cheeks. Ms. Montez whipped away her tears when she turned and saw Troy. She smiled weakly and walked toward him.

"She locked herself in her room." Ms. Montez explained with an angry shake of her head. "She's mad at me for not telling her about her sister this morning. I just couldn't tell her, Troy. She needs to know that I didn't mean to hurt her." She said as new tears escaped from her eyes.

"Don't worry, Ms. Montez." Troy said as he gave her a supportive hug. "I'm really sorry to hear about Anne."

"I know, honey." Ms. Montez said as she continued to hug Troy. "I'll leave you here to try to talk to her, okay?"

Troy nodded and Ms. Montez quickly walked out of his sight to hide her quiet sobs. Troy stood in the hallway for a minute, looking at Gabriella's door, hearing nothing but shuffling of things coming from inside. The Montez women were strong women and they hid their emotions to the best of their ability. Troy knew that the second he met Gabriella in fifth grade when all the girls were crying when the class gold fish died and she just sat at her desk comforting Sharpay. Troy could see the sadness in her eyes, but she never let anything more show.

And that is what Troy was worried about. He knew Gabriella would try to hide her emotions, when really all she wanted to do was cry for hours. He thought about that as he raised his hand to knock on her door and as he did, the shuffling in the room stopped and he heard footsteps growing louder as he leaned toward the door to listen.

"Gabs, it's me, Troy. Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I don't want to talk right now." Gabriella said from her room.

Troy sighed quietly and nodded his head.

"Okay, I'll be out here if you need me." Troy said as he sat down next to her door.

He didn't get an answer and he watched as the outside grew darker as hours went by, his eyes becoming heavy as he leaned against the door, listening to the constant noise from the other side of the door. Before he could stop himself he started to fall asleep, forgetting about the horrible news he knew and the hurting girl on the other side of the door for just a second before he finally woke up again.

Troy squinted when the moonlight from the hallway window fell upon him, casting a long ray of light down the hallway. He stood up to stretch and as he tapped Gabriella's door it moved slightly open, revealing a, now, unfamiliar room. All of Gabriella's furniture was rearranged and in a different spot then he had last seen it and as he walked in he saw Gabriella sitting on the floor in front of her dresser, organizing her sock drawer.

Gabriella slowly looked up from what she was doing and looked at Troy for a second before returning to her current activity. Troy sat down on the floor a couple of feet away from her and looked at her as she angrily tossed a pair of socks in her garbage can.

"Gabs, it's four in the morning." Troy said as he looked at her alarm clock on her nightstand.

"It's not somewhere in the world." She said dully as she pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"You should really get some sleep." Troy suggested as he saw the dark circles under her eyes.

"Why? So I can be energized for the funeral tomorrow?" She asked. "What's the point?"

Troy didn't answer as he heard the annoyance in her voice, something that was almost unfamiliar to him, something that he never heard on a regular day.

"Why'd you reorganize you room?" Troy asked quietly.

"Why are you asking?" She asked as she jammed a pair of socks into the drawer.

"Please, Gabriella, don't be like this." Troy said as he tried to look her in the eye, but the way she was looking at her sock drawer prevented him from doing so.

"Be like what, Troy?" Gabriella snapped as she angrily shut her sock drawer and opened a new one. "I'm sorry that I'm not happy Gabi, okay? I'm sorry that I'm not very nice to be around right now, that I'm not cheerful or forgiving, okay? My sister just died, if you haven't noticed, and my mom just so happened to forget to tell me about it and I had to find out from Sharpay!" Gabriella replied angrily as she stood up and grabbed a few notebooks off of her dresser and threw them in her garbage can.

"Your mom was going to tell you, it was too hard." Troy said quietly.

"Stop, Troy." Gabriella said as she looked at him for the first time that day. "Stop defending her. Stop trying to play hero."

"Gabi, I…" Troy started but was cut off by Gabriella.

"Just go away, Troy. Please." Gabriella said as she breathed heavily with anger.

"Okay." Troy said with a sad nod as he walked toward the door. "If you need anything…"

"I'm fine." Gabriella said as she walked into her closet and slammed the door behind her.

Troy blinked back the tears that were forming in his eyes and left the Montez's house. It was now, as he sat in the front seat of his car in his driveway, that the fact that Anne was dead finally had a chance to sink in. Anne was like an older sister to him and he began to hear her voice in his head, her last words spoken to him.

_"__One day Gabriella will figure out that she has the same feelings for you that you have for her. You have to trust me on that, okay?" _He heard her say.

Troy made his way toward his parents' room as her voice echoed through his head. He opened the door and turned on the lamp next to his dad as he shook him lightly.

"Dad, I need to talk to you." He whispered.

"What is it, son? What's wrong… it's four in the morning." He said as he sat up, waking Mrs. Bolton up with his sudden movement.

"Troy… what are you doing?" Mrs. Bolton asked as she shielded her eyes from the light.

"Anne Montez died." Troy said, his voice cracking slightly.

"No." Mrs. Bolton gasped.

"I just got home from Gabriella's house."

"That's impossible. I talk to her yesterday! She's engaged to Ben now." Mrs. Bolton rambled on in shock.

"Sweet heart, relax. Why don't you call Isabel while I go talk to Troy?" Mr. Bolton suggested as he stood up and followed Troy out of his room.

Mr. Bolton closed the door to Troy's room before he spoke.

"How'd this happen?" He asked.

"She got in a car accident last night." Troy explained as he sat on the side of his bed.

"Did you talk to Gabriella? How is she?" Mr. Bolton asked after shaking his head in disbelief.

"She locked herself in her room and then when I went into her room later on she had completely reorganized it and was throwing away random stuff. She's mad, dad. At her mom, at me, at the world right now. I've never seen her like this before." Troy said as he shook his head and became teary eyed.

Mr. Bolton sat down next to him and placed his hand on his shoulder to comfort him as he looked down at the wood floor.

"People deal with these things in different ways, Troy. You just have to stay by her side and help her get through this. You can't give up on her." Mr. Bolton said.

"I'll never give up on her." Troy said strongly as he looked at his dad.

"I know, son. You need to get some sleep now. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I need to check on your mother, okay?" He asked.

"Okay, dad. Thanks." Troy said as his dad left his room.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS

Troy slowly walked into the funeral home with Chad, Jason, and Zeke right next to him. They were all in black suits, sadly looking down at the ground as they walked in, trying to think of something that would get their minds off of where they were. They stopped in front of the sign that read _service for Anne Emily Montez-__ back room. _They stood there reading the sign, listening to people pass crying and talking about the good times. Chad had to turn away from looking at the sign and occupy himself with reading a brochure. The guys exchanged a look, knowing that Chad was never good in these kinds of moments, ones that couldn't be fixed by a joke or stupid comment.

"Come on, guys." Troy said as he started to walk through the funeral home to the room in the back.

The group stopped once more when they came to the doorway of the room. Rows of chairs were set up in front of the casket and a couch was placed in the very back for people who didn't want to be too close, kids mainly. They spotted Taylor, Kelsi, Martha, Sharpay, and Ryan sitting in the very back row with their heads down and tissues in their hands. Ryan was trying to comfort all of them, but was slowly failing as they all started to cry. Chad, Jason, and Zeke made their way toward them and gave them all a hug when they said hello. Troy scanned the room, seeing his parents talking to Ms. Montez and many other familiar faces around the room. He knew almost everyone that Gabriella's family knew. He met everyone at family dinners and parties that he was always gladly invited to.

He continued to look around the room, trying to find Gabriella and when he saw her he immediately felt sick to his stomach. She was standing at the front to the side, staring at the casket, wearing all black, a color that she hated, a color Troy knew she never wanted to wear. He watched her for a minute before he made his way over to her and before he could get to her he felt both of his legs being held onto. He looked down and saw Bella and Tucker, Gabriella's twin cousins, holding onto his legs looking up at him sadly.

"Hi, Troy." Tucker said with a sad smile.

Troy smiled at them and knelt down to be at their level. He put his arms around them and looked at them, seeing how much they had grown since the last time he saw them.

"Hey, thing one. Hey, thing two." He said as he looked at each of them.

Bella gave him a small smile and Tucker gasped excitedly.

"Bella smiled, Troy. Look, she did, she did!" He said as he pointed at his sister and put his arm around Troy's neck.

"She did, didn't she?" Troy asked with a smile.

"See, Bella. It's okay." Tucker said as he took her hand and led her away from Troy.

Troy watched them walk over to their parents as he stood up. He waved when their parents gave him appreciative nods and then he went over to Gabriella. Gabriella didn't notice him at first, but then took her eyes off of the front of the room and looked at him when he put his hand on the small of her back.

"Hey." Troy whispered to her.

"Hey." Gabriella whispered back and then turned her attention back to the front.

"Are you okay?" Troy asked her quietly as he leaned forward and talked into her ear.

"I will be." She said as she shivered slightly and then stepped a little closer to him so that his body was right next to hers, keeping her warm.

A few people glanced at them from their spots around the room and Troy smiled at them when he got thankful looks from each of them. He heard someone whispering behind him and he listened carefully when he heard Gabriella's name.

"Gabriella hasn't talked to anyone all day. That must be Troy." He heard.

Troy pulled Gabriella closer to him and inhaled the scent of her shampoo when she leaned her head against his chest. She sighed heavily and Troy looked down at her, seeing her eyes close slowly.

"Did you sleep last night?" Troy asked her as he rubbed her arm.

"No." She said simply.

"Did you at least try?" Troy asked her.

"Yeah." Gabriella said with a nod as she moved away from Troy slightly so that she could look at him. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I didn't mean it."

"You don't have to apologize. I understand."

"I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you." Gabriella said as she shook her head.

"Don't worry." Troy said as he ran his hand over her hair to move it away from her face.

"I have to, Troy. I can't do anything to lose you. I could have lost you because of my attitude yesterday and I'm sorry." Gabriella said as she became teary eyed, but she quickly blinked them back so that Troy wouldn't notice them, but he did and he looked at Gabriella sincerely.

"You're not going to lose me, Gabi." Troy said as he pulled her back toward him and kissed her on the top of her head.

After a few minutes Gabriella noticed her mom looking at them and she slowly removed herself from Troy's grasp.

"I'm going to go talk to Ben." Gabriella said as she glanced at her mom to make sure she wasn't going to try to talk to her. She was still mad at her mom and even though she knew it probably wasn't appropriate to be mad at her in a time like this, she couldn't help but feel the anger rise up inside of her every time she saw her.

"Okay, if you need me I'll be here." Troy said with a small smile.

Troy watched as Gabriella sat down next to Ben, who was sitting in the front row of chairs, sadly looking at the casket. She linked her arm with his and he patted her on the knee as he looked at her. Troy watched and looked away when his dad and Chad came up to him.

"We couldn't help but notice that look on your face." Chad said as he stood next to him.

"I'm just watching Ben. I don't know how he can be so put together." Troy said as he shook his head. "I mean, he just lost the love of his life… it makes me think if I ever…" Troy trailed off and shook his head again.

Chad gave Mr. Bolton a look and Mr. Bolton spoke quietly.

"You're not going to lose Gabriella." He said as he looked at his son, knowingly. "As long as you're there for her she'll always be right here." He said as he pointed to Troy's heart and nodded.

Troy didn't bother arguing with his dad about his connecting _love of his life_ to _Gabriella_. There was no point in arguing with the truth. Troy sat with the kids in the back of the room once his conversation was over and was rubbing Bella's back as she lay on the couch, closing her eyes as they became heavy. Tucker was coloring in a coloring book and was coloring a basketball stadium. Ever since Tucker met Troy he wanted to be just like him, asking to be put on youth basketball teams and wearing wildcat logo, clothes happily giving to him by Gabriella. He looked up at Troy when he saw Gabriella leaving the room in a hurry and spoke up.

"Troy, where's Gabi-ella going?" He asked, having trouble pronouncing her name.

"I don't know, buddy, but I'll go see, okay?" He answered as he stood up slowly to make sure he didn't wake up Bella.

"Okay, Troy." Tucker said with a nod.

Troy walked quickly out of the room, not seeing Gabriella as he made his way through the funeral home. He caught a glimpse of her as she made her way out of the building and he started to run when he saw a few tears falling from her eyes. He stopped and watched her for a minute when he got outside, wanting to give her, her space if she needed some.

Gabriella was trying to get rid of her tears and she quickly wiped them away as she made her way across the street. The conversation she had with Ben tore her up inside, knowing that Ben and Anne's love would never get to grow, but slowly start to fade with the passing of the days. Ben told her that he would love Anne forever and that she was someone special and amazing. Things that Gabriella already knew herself, but loved hearing from someone who loved her sister almost as much as she did.

She stopped when she heard her name shouted, not like they were trying to get her attention, but to warn her or tell her something was happening. She gasped when she saw a car coming toward her and suddenly she was being slammed into by someone and was now rolling on the grass that was next to the parking lot. She opened her eyes quickly and saw Troy lying next to her, his head had a small scrape on it and a thin line of blood was dripping from it. She rolled over on her stomach and shook Troy frantically.

"Troy!" She said quickly as she wiped away the blood on his forehead with her right hand.

"Owe." Troy moaned as he lifted his hand and moved Gabriella's hand off of his cut. "You need to look both ways when you cross the street, Gabi." He whispered.

"Oh my god." Gabriella sobbed as she dropped her head onto his chest and cried uncontrollably.

Troy laid there for a minute in shock as Gabriella cried, but quickly wrapped her in his arms and comforted her as he laid there staring up at the sky. Gabriella was letting everything out in that moment. The tears that she had been holding in since she heard about her sister and the tears that were from realizing she could have lost Troy in his decision to save her life. Gabriella lifted her head and looked down at Troy, feeling secure as he held her protectively.

"I can't believe you did that." She said as she shook her head.

"I wasn't about to let the love of my life get hit by a car." Troy whispered as he looked into her eyes.

Gabriella's breath caught in her throat and she stopped crying, letting Troy wipe away her tears. She looked down at him, realizing that he was serious and smiled slightly.

"Do you mean that?" Gabriella asked.

"Do you want to stand in front of a moving vehicle again and see if I'd do it again?" Troy asked with a small smile, glad that he could make Gabriella smile once again.

"No, I don't want that." Gabriella said as she shook he head.

"What do you want?" Troy asked in a whisper.

"To kiss you." Gabriella said with a smile.

"That can be arranged." Troy replied as he winked at her and rolled over so that Gabriella was underneath him and kissed her passionately.

"I love you, Troy Bolton." She said with a small giggle as she looked up at him after their long kiss.

"I love you, Gabriella Montez." He said seriously before kissing her again.

They both pulled away when they heard a car honk and they quickly looked up at the parking lot where they saw Mr. Bolton in his car looking at the two with a huge smile on his face.

"If your mothers see you like this they'll kill you." He said.

"Thanks for the warning, dad." Troy said as he gave Gabriella a quick peck and then helped her up.

Troy and Gabriella walked back into the funeral home, where Troy stayed at Gabriella's side for the rest of the day, helping her through it all and that is exactly where he will stay. Until death do them part.

**Like it? Review! **

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


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